Craft CMS vs Silverstripe CMS
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted content management systems options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Craft CMS | Silverstripe CMS |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 88 · Excellent | 81 · Excellent |
| Category | Content Management Systems | Content Management Systems |
| License | MIT | BSD-3-Clause |
| Language | PHP | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | docker, bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 3,608 | ★ 724 |
| First released | 2013 | 2007 |
| Replaces | WordPress, Sitecore | Sitecore, Kentico |
What are Craft CMS and Silverstripe CMS?
Craft CMS
Craft CMS is a content management system focused on giving developers and designers complete control over content structure and markup. The core product is open source with optional commercial editions.
- Flexible content modeling
- Twig templating
- GraphQL API
- Plugin store
Silverstripe CMS
Silverstripe CMS is an open-source PHP content management system with a polished editorial interface and a powerful underlying framework. It is favored by developers building custom, structured websites.
- Clean, intuitive admin UI
- Powerful ORM and framework
- Strong content versioning
- Flexible templating
Craft CMS vs Silverstripe CMS: key differences
Both projects are written in PHP. Licensing differs — MIT for Craft CMS versus BSD-3-Clause for Silverstripe CMS. Silverstripe CMS is the more established project (first released 2007), while Craft CMS arrived in 2013. Craft CMS has the considerably larger community, at 3,608 GitHub stars versus 724.
Why pick each one
Choose Craft CMS if…
- Excellent for bespoke sites
- Clean control panel
Watch out for
- Pro edition is paid
- Not ideal for non-developers
Choose Silverstripe CMS if…
- Great balance of CMS and framework
- Pleasant editor experience
Watch out for
- Smaller ecosystem
- Custom development often required
Frequently asked questions
Is Craft CMS or Silverstripe CMS better?
Neither is universally better. Craft CMS has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Craft CMS and Silverstripe CMS free and open-source?
Yes. Craft CMS is licensed under MIT and Silverstripe CMS under BSD-3-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Craft CMS and Silverstripe CMS with Docker?
Craft CMS: yes. Silverstripe CMS: yes.